A singer of many talentos.Put aside what you've been taught and relearn--that is what La Bruja (Caridad de La Luz Caridad de la Luz, also known as "La Bruja" (The "Good" Witch), is a poetess, actress and activist. Early years Luz, whose parents moved to New York City from Puerto Rico, was born and raised in the South Bronx. ) wants from her audiences. Brujalicious, her debut CD under her own label, De La Luz Records, combines her talents as a poet, singer, actor and activist. She introduces audiences to an unexpected blend of spoken word, hip-hop and Reggaeton beats. In between the tracks, characters from her one-woman show, Boogie Rican Blvd., make appearances as fans. Her alto voice flows between Spanish and English seamlessly, making them one language and delivering messages that inspire. In "Olvidate" she raps: "I wanna wan·na Informal 1. Contraction of want to: You wanna go now? 2. Contraction of want a: You wanna slice of pie? see peace throughout the land, to make you comprender el amor es algo espiritual, nada puede comparar con un dia lleno de alegria, gente, cultura ..." She infuses the positive into hiphop and collaborates with artists like B-Real, The Jungle Brothers and Tony Touch. Born and raised in the Bronx to Puerto Rican Puer·to Ri·co Abbr. PR or P.R. A self-governing island commonwealth of the United States in the Caribbean Sea east of Hispaniola. parents, La Bruja began studying dances like flamenco flamenco, Spanish music and dance typical of the Gypsy, or gitano. Flamenco dancing is characterized by colorful costumes, intense and erotic movements, stamping of the feet (zapateado), and clapping of the hands (palmada and ballet at age 4 and went on to train as an actor at the Bronx Theater. It was from her grandmother that she learned to write poetry, and in 1996, La Bruja began performing at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe Nuyorican Poets Café is a non-profit organization and landmark in Alphabet City, Manhattan. It is a bastion of the Nuyorican art movement in New York City, USA, and has become an acclaimed forum for innovative poetry, music, hip hop, video, visual arts, comedy and theatre. in New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. . The training paid off when La Bruja appeared on HBO's Russell Simmon's Def Poetry Def Poetry, also known as Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry or Def Poetry Jam, is an HBO television series produced by hip-hop music entrepreneur Russell Simmons. Jam. Now, she makes that national platform work for her politics. La Bruja participated in the "Stop the Bombs" campaign to close the U.S. Navy Base on Vieques Island and she teaches her "How can I change the world?" writing workshops across the country. Famers is the title of her latest endeavor a screenplay about people who look for fame by doing graffiti in the Bronx. She wrote the script at night while her husband and two children slept. It was during those late hours that La Bruja became engulfed in this story. She encourages people to explore their creativity because she believes in the healing power of art. "It's what saved me from the streets," she says. "It saved me from myself." To read more about La Bruja, go to www.labrujanyc.com. |
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